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The Enterprise, White Salmon, WA., April 8, 1999, page 14

GERD E. BAKKE

Gerd Eliassen Bakke, of White Salmon, died at home on Easter Sunday, April 4, 1999, at the age of 76.
She was born on Aug. 21, 1922, in Flatanger, Norway, to Christian Edmund Eliassen and Signy Katherine (Estensen) Eliassen. She was the youngest of nine children. During her youth, Mrs. Bakke excelled in sports. She was an accomplished championship level handball player and an avid cross-country skier.
In 1941, at the age of 19, she entered nursing school at Namdal Hospital, in the city of Namsos, during the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany. She graduated from Namdal in 1946 with a master's degree in nursing and the honorary rank of lieutenant in the Norwegian army.
Mrs. Bakke left Namdal in 1947 to take a position at the Oppland Mental Hospital in Reinsvold. There she met fellow employee Thiller Bakke of Kolbu. They were married on Dec. 11, 1948 in the Kolbu Church. They celebrated their golden anniversary this past December.
The couple lived in Reinsvold until January 1957, when they emigrated from Norway to the United States, taking up residence in Portland, Ore. They moved in March 1958 to Kiickitat, where Mr. Bakke worked with the St. Regis Lumber Company.
Early in the 196Os, Mrs. Bakke decided it was time to resume her career in the nursing profession. She studied for and obtained her nursing license, then went to work as an office nurse for Dr. G.J. Timmer, M.D., in Goldendale. In 1967, she took a position as charge nurse at the Hi-Lond Convalescence Center in Goldendale. She resigned her position there in 1974 and worked briefly at the nursing home in Hood River before joining the nursing staff of Skyline Hospital in White Salmon.
During her 12 years at Skyline, Mrs. Bakke served as charge nurse on her favorite shift, graveyard. These were the most fulfilling years of her professional career as she was responsible for the delivery of an untold number of babies.
In retirement, she found great pleasure in pursuing her varied interests. She most enjoyed fishing for trout at favorite holes on the Kiickitat River and at Rowland Lake, and along the alpine lakes of Gifford Pinchot National Forest. She also loved knitting, doing needlework, working crossword puzzles, playing chess and card games, talking politics and current events, reminiscing about her life in her native Norway, spending time with her family, and entertaning visitors. Besides fishing season, Mrs. Bakke's favorite time of the year was Christmas eve, when she opened her home to family and friends, and shared the joy and spirit of the holiday season.
Mrs. Bakke was preceded in death by her parents, two sisters, and two brothers.
She is survived by her husband, Thiller, of White Salmon; sons Geir, Goldendale, and Sverre and Rudi, both White Salmon; daughters-in-law Debi, Elaine and Sandi; grandchildren Christopher, Jamie, Krista, Alicia, Dana, and Samantha; brothers Kaare Eliassen, Trondheim, Norway, and Oddvar Eliassen, Beitstad, Norway; and sisters Solbjorg Lindseth, Steinkjer, Norway, and Kjellaug Osvoll, Trondheim, Norway.
Services for Mrs. Bakke were held April 7, 1999, in the chapel at Gardner Funeral Home, White Salmon. Interment followed in the White Salmon Cemetery.
Memorial contributions may be made to Hospice of the Gorge, P.O. Box 36, Hood River, Ore. 97031.